The Internet, and in particular, the world wide web (the “WWW” or “web”) has become an important commercial vehicle. Many companies use WWW websites (which are also referred to as “sites”) to advertise their wares and products on their own websites and on websites operated by other entities. Many companies provide their products and services entirely through the WWW.
Various search engines have been developed to allow WWW users (or “surfers”) to find particular websites. In many cases, a website owner relies on web users finding the website by first conducting a search using a search engine and then selecting the website from the search results.
Search engine market share is a measure of the relative traffic received by sites from search engines in comparison to other websites. Typically it is desirable to measure the relative market share of a website in comparison to other websites in the same or similar commercial space. However, the search engine market share of a website may be measured relative to any other website or group of websites.
It is desirable to provide a tool to estimate the search engine market share for a website relative to other websites